Strong
indications emerged over the weekend that President Muhammadu Buhari
might consider sacking his Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi,
following serious pressure from foreign diplomats over his indictment
for corruption by the Rivers State Judicial Commission of Inquiry.
The commission led by Justice George
Omeregi was set up to investigate the sale of state assets and the
consequent Whitepaper issued by the state government during his tenure
as the governor.
The indications of Amaechi’s possible
sack was informed by the supposed anti-corruption stance of the
Buhari-led Federal Government which the foreign diplomats presume has
been greatly compromised.
Also, Buhari was said to be reportedly
disposed to easing out of office the current Secretary to the Government
of the Federation, SGF, Lawal Babachir and his Chief of Staff, Alhaji
Abba Kyari following the reports about their disposition of corruption.
A Western diplomat said: “There is now
increased and general erosion of confidence in the president’s ability
to prosecute his administration’s anti-graft war.
“About five senior diplomats have had
reason to pass similar observations to the presidency after the Rivers
State government Whitepaper that indicted the Minister of Aviation,
Amaechi over alleged corruption during his years as governor.
“If I can recall very vividly, they told
the president that until people like Amaechi in his government are
excused from government to defend the telling allegations against him,
the corruption fight will not be taken seriously.”
The declaration by the diplomats he said
was buoyed by a letter written by Governor Nyesom Wike to foreign
missions and Embassies detailing findings and related documentary
evidences including the government Whitepaper of the Justice George
Omeregi commission probe report on the state’s finances during the
Amaechi years as governor, according to reports.
Speaking to newsmen on behalf of
Governor Nyesome Wike, the Rivers state’s Commissioner of Housing, Emma
Okah, had last year disclosed that the state’s Attorney-General had been
mandated to start all legal processes against Amaechi; a former
military administrator of Rivers State, Brigadier Anthony Ukpo (Rtd) and
some other former political office holders to refund over N97 billion
allegedly misappropriated in the sale of the state’s valued assets.
A foreign diplomat who was privy to the
matter said: “The president being a leader desirous of returning Nigeria
to the path of sanity and prosperity contracted the consultants
recommended by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“But the president gave them his own terms of reference which were not envisaged by his earlier understanding with Obasanjo.”
He said that the report concluded that
the Buhari administration was better off when the President was working
with permanent secretaries adding that he should have retained some of
the “good and patriotic hands among them” instead of the almost clean
sweep that sent all of them away leaving a wide vacuum in positive
governance.
“They were effective either because they
understood the workings of government very well given their experiences
or they dreaded any tendency to act outside the directives of President
Buhari.
“The president contracted a firm from
the U.S. to assess the performance of his government and officials. The
result is far from complimentary in respect to some officials, number
one of which is the SGF, Engr. Lawal.
“The SGF’s supervisory role over the
MDAs was also brought to question in the report; but it is surprising
that the president has allowed him to stay this long after that report. I
am aware too that somebody is being considered for that position.”
One of the instances mentioned in the
consultant’s report is the sacking of heads of MDAs recently whereby
other political appointees in such MDAs were left out of the action.
The source said: “Some departments and
agencies’ staffers have expressed the worry that executive directors
were left in office while chief executives of some agencies have been
sacked by the present regime.
“The aggrieved staff argued that
executive directors ought to have gone with the chief executives since
they are all political appointees, stressing that the executive
directors could not be excused from any impropriety that may have
happened in such departments and agencies.
“The affected staff appealed to the
president to as a matter of urgency sack the executive directors and
probe their time in office.”
He said the case of the Chief of Staff
is not different as his effectiveness as the bridge between the
president and his aides alongside other federal, states and foreign
governments’ officials has long been in doubt.
The source allegedly accused the
ineffectiveness of the duo has contributed largely to the steep
nose-dive of government in the past months.
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